Could an upcoming commercial center on the Marblehead Coastal property become home to San Clemente's Surfing Heritage & Culture Center? FILE PHOTO: MICHAEL GOULDING, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Visitors to San Clemente’s Surfing Heritage & Culture Center sometimes say it’s a jewel but ought to be closer to the beach.

“We are a little hard to find,” curator Barry Haun said of the warehouse at 110 Calle Iglesia in the Rancho San Clemente Business Park.

Haun said this week that the surf museum has had talks about securing space in Plaza San Clemente, an outlet mall set to begin construction in March on Marblehead Coastal property at I-5 and Avenida Vista Hermosa.

“It’s an ideal location,” Haun said. “It would just depend on what is required of us.”

Developer Steve Craig said he was impressed with the surf museum on a visit there but could see space was limited in the 4,000-square-foot showroom. Plaza San Clemente’s first phase will be 300,000 square feet. Surfing Heritage could be a nice fit, Craig said.

“We're currently working on the programming, allocating the space and the location within the center,” Craig said. “It is our intention to do everything we can to try to make that possible.”

Haun said Surfing Heritage is “very much interested,” as the Marblehead Coastal center would be easy for visitors to reach. “We would get a lot of walk-in traffic,” he said.

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